Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insists he would stay at the club even if they were relegated to League One if found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules.
City’s fate was called into question after Everton’s 10-point deduction last week, but Guardiola insists the two cases are completely separate.
The Toffees were stripped of 10 points for breaking the rules over a three-year period, while City are awaiting a decision after being charged in February with more than 100 alleged breaches of the competition’s financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018. The club denies all accusations. charges.
Asked if there could be a severity of punishment that would force him to think about his position, Guardiola replied: “That’s a good question. I will answer when I have the sentence.
“You question it like we’ve been punished. And in the moment, we’re innocent until proven guilty. I know people want that. I know, I feel that. I’ll wait.
“Wait and see and once the sentence is said we will come here and explain it. But I will absolutely not consider my future (if) it depends (on) being here or being in League One. Absolutely.
“There is a better chance of staying if we are in Ligue 1 than if we were in the Champions League.”
Guardiola claims people have already decided City are guilty and are already calling for their relegation, especially after the severity of Everton’s punishment.
“I know when people say, ‘OK, City, why don’t they go to the Conference?’ Wait, wait,” he said.
“And then what’s going to happen is going to happen.
“When you read (what is said), then we should be relegated, relegated, relegated, yes, of course, but no one knows exactly. All the people who say that haven’t read the statements, don’t know exactly what happened. Not even myself, I haven’t read all the violations, I haven’t read our defense.
“But wait. What I said a month ago: OK, if we did something wrong, we will be punished. But wait, we can defend ourselves, right?
“What people accuse us of, we don’t agree with what they say, we will defend ourselves and once the resolution is found, I will be there, as a spokesperson for my club.
“I want to talk about the Everton case, and I don’t know what happened, but I only know, from the lawyers and the people at my club, and the lawyers, that they are completely different cases .That’s why you can’t compare because each case is completely different.
“The other one is longer because it is more complicated because there are 115 violations. So wait. Then with the lawyers from both sides, they present their cases before the judge and the verdict and then I will say before you and You can ask me.”
The topic has overshadowed the build-up to one of the Premier League’s blockbuster matches as City host rivals Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime.
Guardiola hopes Erling Haaland is fit after withdrawing from international duty with Norway due to injury, but there are several other injury concerns.
“He trained yesterday with some problems, today we are training and hope he can be part of it,” Guardiola said.
“We have some problems like many clubs, we will see after our last training sessions, we will see.
“I’ll know at 6 p.m. who we have available, that’s always plan A.”
